


The Silence of the Stars

by ariel2me



Series: A Song of Siblings Collection [4]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27416548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariel2me/pseuds/ariel2me
Summary: Prince Viserys still had his own dragon’s egg. Though it had never quickened, the prince had kept it with him throughout his years of exile and captivity, for it held great meaning for him. When Aegon commanded that no dragon’s eggs were to be allowed in his castle, Viserys grew most wroth. Yet the king’s will prevailed, as it must; the egg was sent to Dragonstone, and Prince Viserys refused to speak to King Aegon for a moon’s turn. (Fire & Blood)The last thing Viserys said to his brother before his month of silence was, “It must have been easier for you, when you believed me to be dead. The dead could not disagree, could not try to defy, and would not have wishes and intentions contradicting your own. You were able to mourn me in peace, when you believed me to be dead.”(For the prompt: Aegon III Targaryen & Viserys II Targaryen, mourning)
Relationships: Aegon III Targaryen & Viserys II Targaryen
Series: A Song of Siblings Collection [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874971
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	The Silence of the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the Anon on Tumblr who sent me this prompt <3

_The first omen of the dark times to come was seen on Driftmark, when the dragon’s egg presented to Laena Velaryon upon her birth quickened and hatched. Her parents’ pride and pleasure quickly turned to ash, however; the dragon that wriggled from the egg was a monstrosity, a wingless wyrm, maggot-white and blind. Within moments of hatching, the creature turned upon the babe in her cradle and tore a bloody chunk from her arm. As Laena shrieked, Lord Oakenfist ripped the “dragon” off her, flung it to the floor, and hacked it into pieces. (Fire & Blood) _

* * *

Viserys paled. “ _All_ of them? All of the eggs must be sent to Dragonstone? Even my own?”

Aegon nodded, with a heavy heart. He knew how much the egg meant to his brother. The sight of Viserys desperately clutching his dragon’s egg was the last thing Aegon saw, before he flew away on Stormcloud. Terrified as he was, with no way of escaping from the besieged ship, Viserys still had the foresight to hide his egg. The egg had gone with him from the _Gay Abandon_ to Lys, carefully concealed from his captors. And it had returned with him to Westeros, this precious treasure he had guarded as closely as his heart.

Aegon wished he could make an exception for this particular egg. But he could not risk it. He dared not risk it. He could not risk any of the dragon’s eggs hatching and birthing a monstrosity like the one that had maimed Baela’s daughter. If the babe’s father had not reacted swiftly enough, little Laena could have lost much and more than the chunk of flesh on her arm. She could have – she could have – 

Aegon was too horror-stricken to even shudder, when he heard the news. He had stood, petrified, locked in silence for the rest of the day. The thought of his lady mother and her manner of death was never far from his mind. 

His sister’s letter had tried to understate the severity of the situation. That was unusual for Baela, who normally preferred the blunt to the subtle. This time, however, Baela’s letter read as if it had been written by her twin sister Rhaena. Aegon had learned the full story from Grand Maester Munkun instead. The Grand Maester had received a more frank and forthright account from the maester serving on Driftmark. That maester had not minced his words when writing of the horror he had witnessed. 

No, no exception could be made, Aegon resolved. Not even for Viserys. _Especially_ not for Viserys. If his egg should ever hatch, and the monster coming out of it should ever try to harm him … Aegon could not bear the thought. His brother had been returned to him against all the odds. Viserys must be safe. He must! _He must!_

Viserys protested, “But my egg is not likely to hatch. I was given it in my cradle, and it has never quickened in all these years. You know that. You know that very well indeed. You used to pray with me at night, when we were sharing a bedchamber. We used to pray that my egg would hatch and birth a dragon to match your Stormcloud. I was going to call my dragon Seastar. Stormcloud and Seastar would conquer the sky together, side by side. But our prayers had never been answered. In Lys, I prayed every night for the same thing. Those prayers were never answered either. My dragon’s egg will _never_ hatch, not this one. I have resigned myself to that fact.”

Aegon replied, softly but sadly, “We cannot be certain of that, Vis. We cannot. Not truly. My own egg took some time to hatch, if you recall.”

If only his egg had hatched earlier, then Stormcloud would have been older and larger, when war broke out. He could have fought and saved his mother, flying on the back of a full-size dragon. He could have taken Viserys with him when he fled, instead of abandoning his brother on the _Gay Abandon._ The name of the ship had screamed and shouted at him like a cruel mockery, every single day that he believed Viserys to be dead. 

Viserys raised his voice, “I have carried my egg with me to hell and back! When I was lonely, when I was terrified, when I was crying for home, it was the only companion I had. You would take that away from me?”

Viserys had never spoken of his time in captivity as hell before. He spoke of Magister Bambarro’s courtesy, of Lysandro Rogare’s civility, and of Larra Rogare’s kindness, but he said very little else about those five years he had spent as a captive in exile. He always swatted away his brother’s hesitant queries with a smile, or a shrug. Aegon was too guilt-stricken to probe more deeply. 

But now, his face red with fury, Viserys revealed, “My dragon’s egg was the only companion I had, to remind me of who I am, to give me a sliver of hope that I would not be the lost prince forever. Are you truly so blind that you could not see that? Are you, brother?”

Aegon was not blind, not completely. He saw it … and yet he could not erase his overwhelming fear. He could not erase the sight of a monstrous creature tearing chunks of flesh from his brother’s body. He could not erase the sight of Viserys bathed and swathed in dragonflame. He could not erase his nightmare of Viserys sharing their mother’s fate. He could not! Gods help him, he could not!

He must never share those horrifying thoughts with his brother, never! He must never allow Viserys even the smallest glimpse of his greatest fear. His brother had not seen what he saw, the day their lady mother died, but Viserys had suffered greatly in a different way. He had no right to add to his brother’s burden. He, least of all. He, who had failed Viserys in so many ways. 

_I have to keep you safe, Vis. I must! I owe it to you. I owe it to Mother. I owe it to everyone I failed to protect. I have to keep you safe, even if you hate me for it, even if you never stop blaming me for sending your dragon’s egg away._

The last thing Viserys said to his brother before his month of silence was, “It must have been easier for you, when you believed me to be dead. The dead could not disagree, could not try to defy, and would not have wishes and intentions contradicting your own. You were able to mourn me in peace, when you believed me to be dead.” 

Aegon blew out all the candles in his bedchamber, after Viserys left. His brother’s words rose like arrows, piercing his heart in the darkness. He heard them over and over again, echoes upon echoes, the voices of the dead and the living rising and falling together. 

_Mourn me in peace. Mourn me in peace. Mourn me in peace._

For a time after his flight from the _Gay Abandon,_ he did not mourn his brother at all. He refused to believe that Viserys was dead. He tried to convince himself that he had not abandoned his little brother to his death. _I left him behind, but I did not leave him to die,_ Aegon kept telling himself. _I abandoned him, but I did not kill him._

He had not mourned Vis like he had mourned Jace and Luke, because mourning him would have meant – would have meant – 

That state of affair did not last for long, though. His conviction crumbled at the sight of his mother’s tears. “Vis,” she cried out. “My baby. My poor baby.” Queen Rhaenyra had no doubt that she had lost her youngest son as well as her oldest in the Gullet. 

Aegon mourned, and then Viserys returned. It was another monstrous act of betrayal on his part, he believed. He had not kept the faith. He had given up Viserys for dead, while his brother was suffering in exile, living the half-life of a hostage. 

_I should have known! I should have known that you were still alive, Vis. I should have heard you calling out for me. I should have heard you crying out for home._

He mourned the way they used to be, as brothers. Inseparable brothers, who shared more than just a bedchamber, more than just their lessons and their games. There was no secret they had not shared, no thought left unspoken between them, back then. 

It would never be the same. It could never be the same. 

“You were able to mourn me in peace,” said Viserys, “when you believed me to be dead.” 

But mourning could never be done in peace, whether you were mourning the dead, or mourning the shattered bonds between the living. 


End file.
